LETTER TO MEMBERS OF THE POLITBUREAU OF THE R.C.P.(B.) C.C.

Written:Written on December 2, 1921Published:First published in 1959 in LeninMiscellany XXXVI.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1976,

      Moscow,Volume 45,

      pages392b-393a.Translated:Yuri SdobnikovTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet ArchiveYou may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

Membersof the Politbureau

Havingnow fully read the platform “We Are Collectivists”
(Vperyod-ites, Bogdanov-ites, Proletcult people,
etc.),[1]I have finally come to the conclusion that it would be
unquestionably useful for us and necessaryto printit as
a pamphlet in 2,000–3,000 copies, with themost
circumstantialcritique, with an addition of an article on
Bogdanov’s political statements in 1917, etc.

Ipropose thata number of authorsshould be asked to
write a pamphlet under the editorship of Bukharin, who
should be authorised to share it out between the authors,
obtain their manuscripts within two weeks andshow the
Politbureau in proof, (This is also necessary forforeign
countries.)

1)C.C.circulars about Proletcults.

2) “WeAre Collectivists”.

3)Bukharin’sarticle fromPravda.

4)Afew more articlesanalysing the platform.

[1]Thisplatform was an anonymous document expressing the views
of some intellectuals, and was issued for the Second All-Russia
Proletcult Congress held in Moscow in November 1921. They cast
doubt on the socialist character of the October Revolution and
came out against the policy of the Communist Party and the
Soviet Government; in philosophy they stood up for Machist and
Bogdanovite “theories”, and in politics adopted the views of
the opportunist Workers’ Opposition. The communist groupof the Second Proletcult Congress condemned the “collectivist”
platform, and dissociated itself from it.

Proletcult(Proletarian Culture Organisation) was set up in
September 1917 as an independent workers’ organisation.
Proletcult, whose direction was in the hands of A. Bogdanov and
his supporters, continued, even after the October Revolution,
to maintain its “independence”, thereby setting itself up in
opposition to the Communist Party and the proletarian state. It
was not a homogeneous organisation: alongside bourgeois
intellectuals, who dominated many of its organisations, there were
young workers who were sincerely desirous of taking part in
cultural construction. In a number of his works, Lenin sharply
criticised Proletcult’s erroneous views. Proletcult organisations were
most widespread in 1919, but declined in the early 1920s and were
dissolved in 1932.

Lenin’sproposal for a pamphlet exposing the “collectivist”
platform was adopted by the Politbureau of the R.C.P.(B.) C.C.
on December 3, 1921.

The“C.C. circulars” mentioned in the text are the R.C.P.(B.)
C.C. letter “On the Proletcults” (seePravdaNo. 270, December
1, 1920) and the Politbureau’s decision on the Proletcults of
November 22, 1921, published inIzvestia R.C.P.(B.) C.C.No. 38
for 1921.